Couple questions. PSU etc.

[Epitaph]

Now to start I would like to say my specs so that anyone can give me tips/resources/help.

Phenom x4 9950 BE 2.6ghz
Powercolour 4870x2
8gb 1066 OCZ Reaper
Hush Ultra 680w PSU
2 regular 120mm fans 2 LED 120mm fans
1 cathode light
Vista Home Premium 64 bit
MSI K9A2 Motherboard

Ok, now that we have all that out of the way, is a 680w power supply enough for this setup I want to say no, but that's open to speculation since I'm asking here. Now next to my problems computer is playing a very high quality game like crysis after about 15 mins of playing with everything on high bam computer shuts down. I'm assuming it does this because not enough watts? Potentially if this is the problem would a 850w power supply be suitable to run this if not what about a 900 or 1000w PSU?

 

[mike99]

How much did you pay for PSU?

Mike.

 

[Epitaph]

Roughly 100-130$

 

[Silverion77]

I doubt its the watts...u have plenty there, but it might be the quality of the psu.

Bad quality psus at times cannot provide high stable power, so as the load increases the psu cant handle it.

And no u dont need a 850+ for that. The only reason to get 850+ is if ur crazy and OCD like me

 

[Epitaph]

Mmm...when I purchased it, it wasn't that bad of a PSU I went more for quality and wanted it quiet as well.

 

[Silverion77]

Quality based off what?

I Personally have never heard of Hush Ultra...

 

[Epitaph]

Well if price denotes quality, then I would have to say is what I went by. But unless we're discussing the brand. I'm not that knowledgeable with PSU brands.

 

[Silverion77]

Price doesnt have to denote quality. Usually crappy psus are cheap cause they can be...ppl say "O Look thats cheap" and next thing they kno it sparks.

But some Psus can just be plain bad. Bad capacitors, overrated...but i havent seen a review of that PSU nor do i kno the OEM (helps determine quality)

 

[WR2]

computer is playing a very high quality game like crysis after about 15 mins of playing with everything on high bam computer shuts down. I'm assuming it does this because not enough watts?

If the PSU didn't deliver enough power it would shut down just about as soon as you started playing - not 15 minutes later. Could the PSU be overheating? Do you hear the PSU fan spin faster? How how does the PSU exhaust seem? Are you monitoring your system temps at the time of shutdown?

Try some troubleshooting with just 4GB of RAM and without the CCL.

http://www.casegears.com/hush680.html
Is this Sunbeam / CaseGears 680 Hush power supply the make/model you own? I couldnt find an Ultra version of the model.

 

[Epitaph]

I believe maybe the PSU is overheating, after the 15 mins of everything on max I can kind of smell a funky smell from the PSU which might indicate overheating, I'm gonna try to plug the computer into the outlet instead of a powerstrip to see if that helps. Also about the model it's kind of like that except it doesn't have the lights on it. When I bought the PSU I wasn't really had anything in mind I just went for enough to power the things I had, it said SLI/Crossfire ready which is what I needed as well. As the name implies I can't hear the fan in the PSU and I monitored the system temps around the time system is about 40-41C and the CPU was at around 43-45C.

 

[WR2]

When I bought the PSU

When did you buy the PSU? And what hardware did you initially have?
How are you getting power for your 4870X2?

I think this item could be your PSU: Sunbeam PSU-HUSH680-US 680W ATX
The PSU label isnt as informative as you'd like to see:

Compare that to a Corsair 650TX PSU label:

A high quality PSU of 650-680watts would be fine for your listed hardware. And you'd expect the top of the line CPU and GPU to put some stress on the PSU and so the cooling fan would spin up to a higher speed and cool the unit - you'd definitely hear that happening.
On the all important +12V the Sunbeam might output 40amps (I'd bet its less than 40) while the Corsair claims 52amps.
I think you have a very very budget PSU powering your very very top of the line CPU and GPU.

 

[Epitaph]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006

How about buying something like this?

Apparently I found a PSU calculator after looking it says at 90% load I should have a 800 or so PSU. But I wanted to ask here about this.

 

[Epitaph]

http://extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine

Theres the calculator I redid one thing and said a 627w would be enough. I changed something I thought it was for a different value. So should I get that TX Power supply?

 

[Silverion77]

1) Did u select quad socket??? If u did thats wrong because i just did the same build and got 500 Watts around. U wanna leave it on single socket and then put ur quad proc for it.

2) The TX is very good and will power that computer fine

 

[Epitaph]

Yup, the first mistake was I put Quad socket then it lowered it to around 600 from 800 or so. Also I'm still a bit confused on the 4870x2 for the value underneath what type of card it is would it count as a single card or crossfire?

 

[Silverion77]

Crossfire would be 2 4870x2s so u dont have that

 

[WR2]

Single Socket, Highend Desktop would be the first couple choices, plus single video card as Silverion mentioned.
In my check I OC'd the CPU to 2.8Ghz, used 2xHDDs, 4xUSB devices plus the other items you mentioned and came out around 550watts. Without the OC and with 1 HDD it was under 500watts.
While the 650W Corsair has enough power if you want a PSU that stays quiet longer it might be good to consider the 750W unit. It will probably run at a lower fan noise level longer than the 650W. On the other hand, the 650W shouldn't be any louder than the 4870X2 cooling itself anyway.
The main thing to look for on any PSU for a modern system is having a very large percentage of the +12V power available. (As in Corsair 650=624watts/52amps vs Sunbeam 680=480watts/40amps-maybe.)